When Green Day comes calling

Local punk band Lipstick Homicide gets the surprise of a lifetime

Sep. 21, 2012

Green Day front man Billie Joe Armstrong takes a photo of Kate Kane on stage Sept. 15 at Irving Plaza in New York City while the Coralville-based band Lipstick Homicide opened for the iconic pop punk band. / Special to the Press-Citizen

Written by

Alesha L. Crews

Iowa City Press-Citizen

At least that was the experience for Coralville-based pop punk band Lipstick Homicide.

Last week, the band received an invitation out of the blue to open for rock band Green Day — a band that each of Lipstick Homicide’s members has been listening to for years. The call came just three days before the New York City show.

“We were totally surprised and really excited and kind of didn’t even believe that that was for real at first,” said Kate Kane, 23, the band’s guitarist and backup singer. “But it turned out to be the real thing. It’s pretty exciting.”

The band’s drummer, Luke Ferguson, 24, had a similar reaction, not wanting to get his hopes up about the opportunity before they knew it definitely would happen.

“We all kind of thought it was a big prank and that we were going to drive there and all of our friends were going to be laughing at us,” he said. “We didn’t really believe it. It was pretty surreal.”

The opportunity — set up by Larry Liverpool, who has worked closely with both bands — turned out to be legitimate, and the next day, the band packed its gear and hit the road for the 20-hour journey to New York City.

After a sound check and visiting with the members of Green Day, Lipstick Homicide played in front of the sold-out crowd at Irving Plaza — about 1,000 people — which was four times larger than any show it had previously played.

“They all gave us a really warm reaction. They all seemed to enjoy it and really get behind Kate and Rachel as they rocked,” Ferguson said.

Kane said the highlight of the experience was getting to meet Green Day.

“It was incredible meeting them,” she said. “They were really nice and down to earth dudes, and they were really nice to us.”

Lipstick Homicide — which consists of Kane, Ferguson and lead singer and bassist Rachel Feldmann — formed six years ago while each of the band members attended West High. The band is working on its newest album, which is expected to be released later this year, Kane said.

Each member has a regular job in addition to playing with the band, but Kane said they hope to one day make music full time.

“We all definitely put the band before everything else in our lives. Hopefully, someday it will pay the bills,” Kane said.

Lipstick Homicide’s next Iowa City show is Oct. 27 at the Wesley Center.